Foldvary on Hemp Cultivation — Legalize It

Editorial

Legalize Hemp Cultivation

by Fred E. Foldvary, Senior Editor

The federal government of the United States banned hemp in 1937 as part of its prohibition of marijuana. The hemp plant, Cannabis Sativa 1, is related to, but not the same as, marijuana plants, and government agents on missions to destroy the plants may confuse hemp with the other plant. The word “cannabis” comes from the ancient Greek word for hemp, of the plant family Moraceae.

Hemp had been grown in the United States since colonial days; Washington and Jefferson grew hemp. It is cultivated world-wide for its many useful products, including textiles, paper, building materials, and fuel.

Levi Strauss blue jeans were made with hemp, and hemp was used to make the canvas that covered wagons that brought pioneers to the West. It is still legal to sell and use hemp products in the United States, so it is imported from countries such as Canada where cultivation is legal.

Hemp can also help save the natural environment. It can be grown without harmful chemicals, and can help fight invasions of weeds.

California has been invaded by the starthistle, which is taking over grasslands and is difficult to eradicate. Hemp could help control that weed, just as it successfully dealt with an earlier invasion, the Canadian thistle, which entered the U.S. midwest a hundred years ago. When farmers cultivated hemp for a few years, it grew fast and blocked out the sunlight the thistles needed. In a few years, the hemp succeeded in wiping out the thistle blight, and the farmers could go back to growing their other crops.

But instead of using hemp to restore natural flora and grazing lands, the US government is instead poisoning the environment with herbicides to kill hemp along with marijuana plants. These chemicals enter the water supply and end up in our food. The government will spray poison on the starthistles rather than use hemp. People look to government to protect them from pollution, when in fact the government is a major environmental destroyer.

Canada has legalized hemp cultivation, and so far the fabric of society in Canada has not fallen apart. By legalizing hemp, the U.S. government can help farmers, reduce pollution, help fight plant invasions the natural way, and reduce the trade deficit by cultivating hemp in the United States instead of importing it.

The prohibition of hemp cultivation is another example of the absurdity of the “zero tolerance” policy of the federal government’s war on drug users, a war which has destroyed civil liberties, harmed the economy, violates property rights, and ruins the environment.

What is your opinion on hemp and its cultivation? Tell The Progress Report!Copyright 1998 by Fred E. Foldvary. All rights reserved. No part of this material may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, which includes but is not limited to facsimile transmission, photocopying, recording, rekeying, or using any information storage or retrieveal system, without giving full credit to Fred Foldvary and The Progress Report.

We are Hanno Beck, Lindy Davies, Fred Foldvary, Mike O'Mara, Jeff Smith, and assorted volunteers, all dedicated to bringing you the news and views that make a difference in our species struggle to win justice, prosperity, and eco-librium.

I beleive hemp could play a key role in helping America out of this recession-depression. It can be used to make clothes and paper, in addition to other things. Lord knows with all the concrete we pour, our ability to produce good air, in the sense of trees and grass and green plants transforming carbon dioxide into breathable air, we could stand to spare a few trees here and there. With all the paper we consume as Americans, it is nonsense to not turn back to growing hemp.

Hemp oil is considered by some to be one of the most beneficial oils for human consumption. Author Udo Erasmus, in his book, Fats That Heal, Fats That Kill: The Complete Guide to Fats, Oils, Cholesterol and Human Health, states that hemp seed oil surpasses even flax seed oil in conferring health benefits.

The fact that you cannott purchase cannabis in the u.s as readily as liquor(which is far more harmful)is strictly political. There is no way that this fact can be disputed by any persons with average intelligence and knowledgeable of the facts;Facts, not opinions.

I believe that hemp should be legal it is the best thing out there for people. It is a proven fact that no person has ever died from smoking or taking in to much hemp or marijuana. You can die from taking in to much alcohol though, so why is that legal if you can die from it much quicker. There have been way more people die in car accidents from drinking but not that many with people who have been smoking or taking in hemp. It just doesnt make sense why they say it is so bad, yes there are a few things about it that gives it faults but it is not very harmful. Why not push hard to stop tweakers and all them people out there, and make hemp legal? I know that when I have kids I would much rather have them smoking pot and not being loud and doing stupid things like they would do from drinking!

I believe that hemp should be legal it is the best thing out there for people. It is a proven fact that no person has ever died from smoking or taking in to much hemp or marijuana. You can die from taking in to much alcohol though, so why is that legal if you can die from it much quicker. There have been way more people die in car accidents from drinking but not that many with people who have been smoking or taking in hemp. It just doesnt make sense why they say it is so bad, yes there are a few things about it that gives it faults but it is not very harmful. Why not push hard to stop tweakers and all them people out there, and make hemp legal? I know that when I have kids I would much rather have them smoking pot and not being loud and doing stupid things like they would do from drinking!

I think that hemp should be cultivated in the US so that it take the place of cotton to save us money. and herb is a plant how can a plant be illeagal, its a plant! I live in hawaii hemp is so easy to grow all it needs is sun and some water no need fertilizers and pesticides.

I believe in the legalization of hemp and the infinite benefits it can provide for us. I also believe the federal government is more destructive to the counrty than helpful or protective. To those fighting for this issue and any other environment issues: thank you for your work and don’t give up, for everyone’s sake.

it would seem that prohibition of hemp has had another effect… that of the gradual decimation of rural cultures. it has been easier for large factory farm operations to move in and monopolize our foodstuffs since we’ve been disallowed to grow hemp. it is time that we reclaim our cultural heritage. we are slowly dying without it.

I think hemp should be legalized only to help farmers and people with medical issues! However, I don’t believe it should be used just to get high off of! I think that’s the worst thing to do to your body!

I think Hemp should be legalized. This is because I think it has the potential to reduce deforestation of the rain forest in Borneo for papers. We have a serious deforestation for monocroping and paper production in Sabah, Borneo. Even though many tree species were planted for papers such as Acacia tree in Borneo, but the problem with Acacia it is very invasive and very bad for the fertility of the soils, in addition oil palm monocroping is very ugly. We are losing our biodiversity here…help!

I also believe that many research should be taken on hemp in the humid tropics, since we have so many insect and plant diseases which all year round that cost to our agricultural production. Its very weird because we do believe in highly toxic chemical in our food production than using biocontrol.

I know that the illegalization of hemp cultivation was in the best interest of only a few corporate founders in the early part of the century. They have had their way with Mother Nature for far too long! Hemp Cultivation is a Positive Solution for so many living cells in America. Let nature grow. Let nature heal herself. Let America see thru the coporate greed which has dominated our land, our minds, and our culture for the better part of this century. Wake Up America! It is a weed, not a weapon of mass destruction which is produced on our tax dollar at an alarming rate. Legalize It!

Legalation of cannabis sativa will never happen. Those who say it is not marijuana are wrong but that has little to do with why it never be legalized. Marijuana is cannabis. Higher grade marijuana is cannibis indica but they are for the most part the same plant. You could easily graft one onto the other. Marijuana is the female flower of the plant.

The reason marijuana / cannibis was illegalized was because of William Randolf Hearst , early 20 century the paper/media magnate , own large tracks of timber and wanted to expand the market for timber products while eliminating the compition so he created “refer madness” which was all media hype and little or no fact..
Cannibis used to be used to make paper , a extremely good paper , and he needed a reason to get rid of it .

Never mind that if even a extremely small percentage of what is said about cannibis is true (all the building products , vegtable oil /oil substitutes , pharmaceutical substitutes, paper , food [ better healthier than soy ], easier to grow , stronger , products can be gotten out without growing to full maturity , enriches the soil , and on and on ad infinitum) that it is then a crime against humanity to keep it illegal.

THe golden rule applies here { those who have the gold make the rules }

I am more than a little cynical abiot United States of America policies in general. It is my oppinion that the USA is run for the profit a a few at the expense of the many and I do not know what I can do to change this or even if it is possible to change this.

I’m doing a research paper on legalizing it for medical and enviromental uses. I believe strongly to legalize it. It was put here for a reason in the beginning of time. It would help our economy more than people would imagine.

It boggles my mind to think that the US still hasn’t legalized the cultivation of hemp. It’s ridiculous that the government rather cut down old tree growth and kill the environment, then grow an easily renuable resource. DAMN the government and their stupid politicians! They’re ruining everything for our childrens futures.

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Arts & Letters

Geonomics is …

a POV that Spain’s president might try. A few blocks from my room in Madrid at a book fair to promote literacy, Sr Zapatero, while giving autographs and high fives to kids, said books are very expensive and he’d see about getting the value added tax on them cut down to zero. (El Pais, June 4; see, politicians can grasp geo-logic.) But why do we raise the cost of any useful product? Why not tax useless products? Even more basic: is being better than a costly tax good enough? Our favorite replacement for any tax is no tax: instead, run government like a business and charge full market value for the permits it issues, such as everything from corporate charters to emission allowances to resource leases. These pieces of paper are immensely valuable, yet now our steward, the state, gives them away for nearly free, absolutely free in some cases. Government is sitting on its own assets and needs merely to cash in by doing what any rational entity in the economy does – negotiate the best deal. Then with this profit, rather than fund more waste, pay the stakeholders, we citizenry, a dividend. Thereby geonomics gets rid of two huge problems. It replaces taxes with full-value fees and replaces subsidies for special interests with a Citizens Dividend for people in general. Neither left nor right, this reform is what both nature lovers and liberty lovers need to promote, right now.

an economic policy based on the earth’s natural patterns. Eco-systems self-regulate by using feedback loops to keep balance. Can economies do likewise? Why don’t they now produce efficiently and distribute fairly? The answers lie in the money we spend on the earth we use. To attain people/planet harmony, that financial flow from sites and resources must visit each of us. Our agent, government, must collect this natural rent via fees and disburse the collected revenue via dividends. And, it must forgo taxes on homes and earnings, and quit subsidies of either the needy or the greedy. As our steward, government must also collect Ecology Security Deposits, require Restoration Insurance, and auction off the occasional Emissions Permit. And that’s about it – were nature our model.

one of many words I coined over 20 years ago: geoism, geonomics, geonomy, geocracy, etc – neologisms that later others came up with, too. CNBC once had a Geonomics Show, and Middlebury College has a Geonomics Institute. If “economy” is literally “management of the household”, then geonomy is “management of the planet”. The kind of management I had in mind is not what CNBC was thinking – top-down. My geonomics is not hands-on, interfering, but hands-off, organic. It’d strive to align policy with natural processes, similar to what holistic healing does in medicine, what organic farming does in agriculture. Geonomics attends to two key components: One, the crucial stuff to track is fat — or profit, especially profits without production, such as rent, or all the money we spend on the nature we use. Society’s surplus is the sine qua non for growth, needed to counter death – not merely more, but sustainable development, more from less. Two, the basic process to respect is the feedback loop. These let nature maintain balance automatically and could do the same for markets, if we let them. Letting them would turn our economies, now our masters, into a geonomy, our servant, providing us with prosperity, eco-librium (to coin a term) and leisure, time off — a hostile environment for economan but a cradle for a loving and creative humanity.

one of many words I coined over 20 years ago: geoism, geonomics, geonomy, geocracy, etc – neologisms that later others came up with, too. CNBC once had a Geonomics Show, and Middlebury College has a Geonomics Institute. If “economy” is literally “management of the household”, then geonomy is “management of the planet”. The kind of management I had in mind is not what CNBC was thinking – top-down. My geonomics is not hands-on, interfering, but hands-off, organic. It’d strive to align policy with natural processes, similar to what holistic healing does in medicine, what organic farming does in agriculture. Geonomics attends to two key components: One, the crucial stuff to track is fat – or profit, especially profits without production, such as rent, or all the money we spend on the nature we use. Society’s surplus is the sine qua non for growth, needed to counter death – not merely more, but sustainable development, more from less. Two, the basic process to respect is the feedback loop. These let nature maintain balance automatically and could do the same for markets, if we let them. Letting them would turn our economies, now our masters, into a geonomy, our servant, providing us with prosperity, eco-librium (to coin a term) and leisure, time off – a hostile environment for economan but a cradle for a loving and creative humanity.

of interest to Dave Lakhani, President Bold Approach (Mar 8) and Matt Ozga (Jan 29): “I write for the Washington Square News, the student run newspaper out of New York University. Geonomics seems like it has great significance, especially in this area. When was geonomics developed, and by whom?”
About 1982 I began. Two years later, Chilean Dr Manfred Max-Neef offered the term geonomics for Earth-friendly economics. In the mid-80s, a millionaire founded a Geonomics Institute on Middlebury College campus in Vermont re global trade. In the 1990s, CNBC cablecast a show, Geonomics, on world trade as it benefits world traders. My version of geonomics draws heavily from the American Henry George who wrote Progress & Poverty (1879) and won the mayoralty of New York but was denied his victory by Tammany Hall (1886). He in turn got lots from Brits David Ricardo, Adam Smith, and the French physiocrats of the 1700s. My version differs by focusing not on taxation but on the flow of rents for sites, resources, sinks, and government-granted privileges. Forgoing these trillions, we instead tax and subsidize, making waste cheap and sustainability expensive. To quit distorting price, replace taxes with “land dues” and replace subsidies with a Citizens Dividend.
Matt: “This idea of sharing rents sounds, if not explicitly socialist, at least at odds with some capitalist values (only the strong survive & prosper, etc). Is it fair to say that geonomics has some basis in socialist theory?”
A closer descriptor would be Christian. Beyond ethics into praxis, Alaska shares oil rent with residents, and they’re more libertarian than socialist. While individuals provide labor and capital, no one provides land while society generates its value. Rent is not private property but public property. Sharing Rent is predistribution, sharing it before an elite or state has a chance to get and misspend it, like a public REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) paying dividends to its stakeholders – a perfectly capitalist model. What we should leave untaxed are our sales, salaries, and structures, things we do produce.

a new field of study offered in place of economics, as astronomy replaced astrology and chemistry replaced alchemy. Conventional economics, in which GNP can do well while people suffer, is a bit too superstitious for my renaissance upbringing. If I’m to propitiate unseen forces, it won’t be inflation or “the market”; let it be theEgyptian cat goddess. At least then we’d have fewer rats. Meanwhile, believing in reason leads to a new policy, also christened geonomics. That’s the proposal to share (a kind of management, the “nomics” part) the worth of Mother Earth (the “geo” part). If our economies are to work right, people need to see prices that tell the truth. Now taxes and subsidies distort prices, tricking people into squandering the planet. Using land dues and rent dividends instead lets prices be precise, guiding people to get more from less and thereby shrink their workweek. More free time ought to make us happy enough to evolve beyond economics, except when nostalgic for superstition.

as unfamiliar as geo-economics. The latter is a course some universities offer that combines geography and economics. A UN newsletter, Go Between (57, Apr/May ’96; thanks, Pat Aller), cited an Asian conference on geopolitics and “geoeconomics”. The abbreviated term ‘geonomics” is the name of an institute on Middlebury College campus and of a show on CNBC. Both entities use the neologism to mean “global economics”, in particular world trade. We use geonomics entirely differently, to refer to the money people spend on the nature they use, how letting this flow collect in a few pockets creates class and poverty and assaults upon the environment, and how, on the other hand, sharing this rental flow creates equality, prosperity, and a people/planet harmony. This flow of natural rent, several trillions dollars in the US each year, shapes society and belongs to society.

a manual. The world did not come without a way for people to prosper, and the planet to heal and stay well; that way is geonomics. Economies are part of the ecosystem. Both generate surpluses and follow self-regulating feedback loops. A cycle like the Law of Supply and Demand is one of the economy’s on/off loops. Our spending for land and resources – things that nobody made and everybody needs – constitutes our society’s surplus. Those profits without production (remember, nobody produced Earth) can become our commonwealth. To share it, we could pay land dues in to the public treasury (wouldn’t oil companies love that?) and get rent dividends back, a la Alaska’s oil dividend. Doing so let’s us axe taxes and jettison subsidies. Taxes and subsidies distort price (the DNA of exchange), violate quid pro quo by benefiting the well-connected more than anyone else, reinforce hierarchy of state over citizen, and are costly to administer (you don’t really need so much bureaucracy, do you?). Conversely, land dues motivate people to not waste sites, resources, and the ecosystem while rent dividends motivate people to not waste themselves. Receiving this income supplement – a Citizens Dividend – people can invest in their favorite technology or outgrow being “economan” and shrink their overbearing workweek in order to enjoy more time with family, friends, community, and nature. Then in all that free time, maybe we could figure out just what we are here for.

the study of the money we spend on the nature we use. When we pay that money to private owners, we reward both speculation and over-extraction. Robert Kiyosaki’s bestseller, Rich Dad’s Prophecy, says, “One of the reasons McDonald’s is such a rich company is not because it sells a lot of burgers but because it owns the land at some of the best intersections in the world. The main reason Kim and I invest in such properties is to own the land at the corner of the intersection. (p 200) My real estate advisor states that the rich either made their money in real estate or hold their money in real estate.” (p 141, via Greg Young) When government recovers the rents for natural advantages for everyone, it can save citizens millions. Ben Sevack, Montreal steel manufacturer, tells us (August 12) that Alberta, by leasing oil & gas fields, recovers enough revenue to be the only province in Canada to get by without a sales tax and to levy a flat provincial income tax. While running for re-election, provincial Premier Ralph Klein proposes to abolish their income tax and promises to eliminate medical insurance premiums and use resource revenue to pay for all medical expense for seniors. After all this planned tax-cutting and greater expense, they still expect a large budget surplus. Even places without oil and gas have high site values in their downtowns, and high values in their utility franchises. Recover the values of locations and privileges, displace the harmful taxes on sales, salaries, and structures, then use the revenue to fund basic government and pay residents a dividend, and you have geonomics in action.

a scientific look at how we divvy up the work and the wealth, how some of us end up with too much or too little effort or reward. That’s partly due to Ricardo’s Law of Rent, showing how wasteful use of Earth cuts wages. And it’s partly due to how a society’s elite runs government around like water boys, dishing out subsidies and tax breaks. While geonomists look political reality right in the eye, without blinking, conventional economists flinch. When Paul Volcker, ex-chief of the Federal Reserve, moved on to a cushy professorship at Princeton cum book contract, the crush of deadlines bore down. So Volcker asked a junior associate to help with the book. The guy refused, explaining that giving serious consideration to policy would ruin his academic career. The ex-Fed chief couldn’t believe it and asked the department chair if truly that were the case. That head honcho pondered the question then replied no, not if he only does it once. And economics was AKA political economy!